Facebook vs. MySpace
As more and more adults join Facebook, the younger generation clings to MySpace
By Sarah Klein
Now that Facebook has opened its doors to anyone with a valid email address, older demographics have been piling onto the social networking site. The growth has Facebook – which was once available only to college students – surging ahead of the competing social networking site MySpace. Facebook now has more unique and monthly visitors in the U.S. as well as across the globe.
But as the over-30 crowd discovers Facebook, younger users are still drawn to MySpace. The big difference? Perhaps it’s community vs. creativity. Facebook is clearly all about communication. You send and receive messages just like you are using e-mail or IM. People share information you could keep in an address book. On the other hand, MySpace also prides itself on building communities but then the emphasis is on allowing those communities to develop and explore shared interests.
One such interest – and a huge draw to MySpace – is MySpace Music. Many fledgling bands create a MySpace page where family, friends and fans can read blog posts, leave comments, and find information about upcoming shows. Users can “discover” new bands and in turn share them with their friends. The site allows direct purchase and downloading of a band’s songs, and features embedded music players to play songs while you visit a page.
With a custom URL, users can also personalize some of the HTML code on MySpace. This allows them to give their pages different layouts, backgrounds and features to the point where some pages, like that of the Marines, don’t look anything like a standard MySpace page. Facebook’s interface may be cleaner and simpler, but it remains uniformly the same for all users.
With fewer privacy restrictions, it’s also easier to search for and connect with friends on MySpace. That means it’s also easier for people to see what you have posted. But because of the success of MySpace Music (not to mention the fact that MySpace makes more money!), even if Facebook triumphs in number of visitors, MySpace is here to stay.
